Jose Maria Velasco Ibarra

Jose Maria Velasco Ibarra (19 March 1893-30 March 1979) was President of Ecuador from 1 September 1934 to 21 August 1935 (succeeding Abelardo Montalvo and preceding Antonio Pons), from 1 June 1944 to 23 August 1947 (succeeding Carlos Alberto Arroyo del Rio and preceding Carlo Mancheno Cajas), from 1 September 1952 to 31 August 1956 (succeeding Galo Plaza Lasso and preceding Camilo Ponce Enriquez), from 1 September 1960 to 7 November 1961 (succeeding Ponce Enriquez and preceding Carlos Julio Arosemena Monroy), and from 1 September 1968 to 15 February 1972 (succeeding Otto Arosemena Gomez and preceding Guillermo Rodriguez Lara). He was a member of the Conservative Party of Ecuador.

Biography
Jose Maria Velasco Ibarra was born in Quito, Ecuador in 1893. Educated as a lawyer, he dominated Ecuadorian politics for 50 years. His success was based on his charisma and his populism, which enabled him as a conservative to appeal to the liberal bourgeoisie, as well as to the petty bourgeoisie and the popular masses, who appreciated the extensive public works he realized. However, he remained at heart a representative of the conservative oligarchy, so that he failed to carry out any meaningful social reforms and attempted to repress left-wing protests against deteriorating living conditions. He was overthrown in a 1972 military coup and died in 1979 at the age of 86.